TY - BOOK
T1 - Lived experiences of the Cashless Debit Card trial, Ceduna, South Australia
AU - Vincent, Eve
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The cashless debit card (CDC) quarantines 80 % of working age recipients’ income support payments in selected trial sites. This paper concerns the lived experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals subject to the first CDC trial in the Ceduna region of South Australia. This paper centres the voices of those affected by the trial, using narrative interviews to highlight recurring themes: complex shame responses to being a part of the trial; local perspectives on circumvention of the card’s restrictions; CDC holders’ comments on two existing processes: the Wellbeing Exemption Clause, which might result in an applicant exiting the trial and the Ceduna Region Community Panel, which is empowered to assess applications to vary the split of restricted and unrestricted monies. To date, non-Indigenous participants in the trial have been disproportionately successful in pursuit of either these options. Finally, I consider the reasons why some research participants express support and enthusiasm for the CDC and why others bitterly resent its introduction and effects. Those most opposed to the card can be understood to advance a critical analysis of the card in social and historical terms.
AB - The cashless debit card (CDC) quarantines 80 % of working age recipients’ income support payments in selected trial sites. This paper concerns the lived experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals subject to the first CDC trial in the Ceduna region of South Australia. This paper centres the voices of those affected by the trial, using narrative interviews to highlight recurring themes: complex shame responses to being a part of the trial; local perspectives on circumvention of the card’s restrictions; CDC holders’ comments on two existing processes: the Wellbeing Exemption Clause, which might result in an applicant exiting the trial and the Ceduna Region Community Panel, which is empowered to assess applications to vary the split of restricted and unrestricted monies. To date, non-Indigenous participants in the trial have been disproportionately successful in pursuit of either these options. Finally, I consider the reasons why some research participants express support and enthusiasm for the CDC and why others bitterly resent its introduction and effects. Those most opposed to the card can be understood to advance a critical analysis of the card in social and historical terms.
KW - Cashless Debit Card
KW - income management
KW - welfare reform
KW - conditionality
U2 - 10.25911/5cff8365eb39f
DO - 10.25911/5cff8365eb39f
M3 - Other report
T3 - Centre For Aboriginal Economic Policy Research working papers
BT - Lived experiences of the Cashless Debit Card trial, Ceduna, South Australia
PB - Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
CY - Canberra, ACT
ER -